Slim Branch hummed as she threaded the last bead into the horribly misshapen moccasin, holding it up to the candlelight to examine the mess of cloth, beads, and feathers. She placed the shoe nest to its sagging partner on the floor.
She leaned back, ready to blow the candle out, when a thump from outside jarred her.
She paused and got up, moving swiftly to the door. A small, white snout poked inside the teepee, and a lifeless body was shoved inside.

Anybody else in the village would have thought that this creature had killed the boy on the floor. Slim Branch knew better. "Where are you going?" She hissed, out into the night.
The dragon was blundering his way back. "Come back here. You're going to kill yourself like that."
The dragon looked back once fearfully and tripped on a branch. Slim Branch cringed. She beckoned urgently to the dragon. Sleepy voices and candlelight was flickering inside the other teepee. The dragon evidently also heard this, as he bolted inside her teepee without second thought.
After realizing his plan had just gone all wrong, it zoomed to the other corner, hiding behind a chair.

Cloud sat shivering behind a chair. Why had he gone back in? He was supposed to just leave. Argh. Maybe he would look like the chair.
He couldn't help whimpering a little when the old lady approach. He'd dropped him off at the nearest teepee, hoping somebody would help him. Evidently that didn't work very well.
The lady started gesturing and speaking very fast. Oh, well, maybe she was't actually trying to kill him.
She finally picked up Boy and laid him on the bed, felt him, frowned, and whisked behind another flap. she did a bunch of random things with plants and stuff.
Cloud followed her quick fingers, feeling a little dizzy. Twice it required Boy to throw up into a tub for a brief period of time when he was conscious. The old woman paid Cloud no attention. Mystified, Cloud quietly crept out of the teepee.

He was terrified of River's reaction. Creeping into the cave they called home, he stood for a moment, looking at everything, unsure of what to say. He could tell Star. He could trust Star. Star, the only dragon that he could ever tell about the humans. Debating of what to say, he just called out nervously. "Um... I-I'm home?"
Nothing responded for a minute Cloud turned to check outside, but then River barreled into him and screeched, "Where have you been? You've been gone for nearly two days. What were you thinking? We saw humans in the forest. How did you sleep? Its dangerous out there. What happened?!"
Cloud let River finish her rant and said cautiously, "Um... you know that fire over there, next to the marshes?"
River shrieked. "What? Were you it it? I saw it! I-"
Cloud waited for River to stop screaming again. Cloud told her the story, but left some parts out. He said he had made the fire and trapped himself in it. (This earned him a half hour lecture from River.) He said it was dark, and he couldn't find his way home. He said he was tired and slept. He came back home the next day. He mentioned nothing of the child beside him. "And, " He said hopefully, "I'm hungry."
No such luck.
"What are you doing so close to the village? Oh, why are you playing so close there? Don't go there. It's dangerous. There were humans out farther then they usually are. some of them were trying to douse out the fire. Oh, no! Did you see them?"
Cloud sighed under his breath. "No, I didn't see them," He lied. "And I'm hungry."
River finally relented, giving him some scraps from dinner.
"Now go to sleep," She said. "That was the most frightening night of my life, Cloud."
Cloud padded to his cave, settling down on a patch of moss. He needed to see Boy. Tomorrow.

River called after Cloud after breakfast.
"And where do you think you're going?" She snapped. "I lost you for two days, you are not going back out."
Cloud groaned. "So I'm grounded?" He complained.
River glowered at him. "No."
Cloud sighed. "For how long?" Cloud asked.
River gave him the devil glare. "You're not grounded. And you have a lot of work to do."
This time Cloud was the one to glare. A lot of work a.k.a nothing. And he was probably grounded for life. He slumped into a miserable heap, trying and failing to sleep.

      After sixty thousand billion trillion years of nothing to do, River finally appeared at the mouth of the cave and told Cloud to get up and go to the main cave.
"Why?" Cloud asked grumpily. His legs had fallen asleep.
Rivers eyes danced with excitement. "You'll see, Cloud. And wipe that unhappiness off your face."
Cloud scowled even more. Well, she had grounded him. All he could think about was Boy.
"I'm coming," he grumped.
River nodded, "and make it fast," she tossed over her shoulder as the silver tail disappeared around the cave.
Cloud dragged himself up from the bed of moss, shook himself, and reluctantly entered the main cave. Evening and Rain were already there, and River, and- Cloud couldn't believe his eyes. He stood there, gaping, until the dragon in front of him turned and caught his eye.

Drifting Breeze awoke to a dark night, his head throbbing. What just happened? He was dimly aware of the soft cloth under him, and the woman stirring something in the back. The last he remembered was the dragon and- Drifting Breeze sat straight up, but his head immediately started swirling and a sharp pain jolted the back of his head.
The woman hurried over, helping him into a sitting position as he coughed out ash. She nodded approvingly and made him lay back down.
He tried to talk, but his voice came out throaty and raspy, and the woman just shook her head and pulled the blankets back over him. Slowly, despite all the swirling thoughts in his head, Drifting Breeze fell asleep to the steady churn of the woman mixing her herbs again.